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How Many Billions of Dollars in Damage Will Harvey Cost?

Pinning an exact price tag on the storm is more of an art than a science

Experts have already begun to offer damage estimates of Harvey, even as the historic floods keep rising. The range, however, is wide: Hannover Re, one of the largest re-insurers in the world, predicted a price tag of $3 billion on insured losses, while Accuweather projected it to have a $190 billion impact on the economy.

The "insured losses" category only incorporates what insurance companies will be on the hook for, while the cumulative economic impact is much broader and includes losses for businesses.

If Accuweather's eye-popping estimate is correct, Harvey would cost nearly as much to the economy as Hurricanes Katrina and Superstorm Sandy combined.

Dr. Joel Myers, Accuweather's founder and president, said the $190 billion figure was based on "knowing what the effect was from Katrina and Sandy and from dozens of other storms and what their ultimate damage estimates were."

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